On Election Day last week, I stood outside of my polling station in suburban Richmond, urging everyone who passed to vote against unfair gerrymandering. Most people nodded politely as they walked by, but one young man stopped to talk.

He said he was a Democrat but planned to vote against the ballot proposal, which would redraw Virginia’s congressional lines to all but guarantee the election of Democrats in 10 of the state’s 11 seats. Intrigued, I asked him to explain his thinking.